FAMOUS NAMES LINK UP WITH THEIR HOME TOWNS TO FUND FREE TRAVEL TO THE PEOPLE’S VOTE MARCH FOR THE FUTURE ON OCTOBER 20th.

FAMOUS NAMES LINK UP WITH THEIR HOME TOWNS TO FUND FREE TRAVEL TO THE PEOPLE’S VOTE MARCH FOR THE FUTURE ON OCTOBER 20th.

October 09, 2018 8:19 AM

Delia Smith, Sir Patrick Stewart, Olly Alexander and Ian McEwan are among more than two dozen household names who are funding free coach travel for campaigners from their home towns and regions to take part in the People’s Vote March for the Future on October 20.

They include actors, musicians, broadcasters, business people, comedians, sports stars, writers and politicians who have each agreed to pay more than £1,000 for a coach taking People’s Vote supporters to London. With more sponsors in the pipeline, and several dozen coaches already booked by local campaign groups, the sponsorship will further swell numbers at the October 20 March for the Future - which is already expected to be the biggest Brexit protest yet as campaigners prepare for crunch votes in the House of Commons this autumn.

Some, like TV historian Dan Snow and comedian Eddie Izzard, will travel to the capital from Southampton and Eastbourne respectively on the coach for which they have paid. Others will greet protesters as they arrive in London and march with them from Hyde Park to Parliament Square. All of them are united in saying they want to make sure people from the places where they grew up or now live can be part of the growing demand for a democratic say on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.

Delia Smith, the TV cook and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, is sponsoring a coach called the “East Anglia Express” to announce her full backing for the campaign. She said: “I am petrified at the way Brexit is going. I’m afraid the political leaders have made a dog’s dinner of it and none of us really trust them anymore to take final decision - whatever the result the of negotiations. That’s why, on October 20, I want to make sure East Anglian voices are heard calling for a People’s Vote in the streets around Westminster.”

Singer and songwriter, Olly Alexander, who will be sponsoring a coach from the Forest of Dean said: “I urge young people to turn out in force for the march. This is our future we are talking about, and we have to be able to have a say. The will of the people can change, and I believe it has as we have watched the mess unfold.”

Actor Natascha McElhone who is sponsoring a coach from Brighton and making a campaign video to promote the march, said: “I think as the prospect of leaving gets nearer, and so many questions remain unanswered, the desire for a People’s Vote is growing by the day. The people must make their voices heard, and not give in to the fatalism that it is out of their hands.”

Sir Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek and X-Men acting legend, is sponsoring a coach leaving his home town of Huddersfield. He said: “When the People’s Vote campaign was launched, it was dismissed as impossible. But everyone seems to be talking about it and more and more people are calling for it to happen. It is these days impossible to find anyone who thinks Brexit is going well.”

His coach will be joined by one arriving from Aldershot where the acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan grew up, as well as those being paid for by former Tory, Labour and Lib Dem Cabinet ministers, ex-England footballers and TV personalities.

A previous mass demonstration on June 23 attracted more than 100,000 people and since then evidence that the UK is headed for a deeply divisive Brexit has electrified the People’s Vote campaign.

The campaign was launched just seven months ago but polls now show it to be the most popular outcome of the Brexit negotiations, well ahead of the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan - or leaving without an agreement like that favoured by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Patrick Kielty, the comedian, who will be paying for a coach from Manchester, said: “In Northern Ireland we voted for The Good Friday Agreement in a referendum. We also voted against Brexit in a referendum. Some of us have already voted twice for a better future. Isn’t it time you got the chance to do the same? That’s why I’m supporting a People Vote.”

Comedian Matt Forde, who is sponsoring a coach from Nottingham, said: “This campaign is first and foremost about people. I want to do my bit to make sure as many people as possible from Nottingham are there in London on October 20. In the end, the politicians won’t sort out the mess that Brexit has become. Only the people can - and that’s why I am backing a democratic public vote on Brexit before it’s too late. I did tell the organisers that we’d rather have a coach to Skegness, but for now London will have to do. Also, I take no responsibility for the state of the onboard toilet”

People’s Vote campaign advisor Alastair Campbell, who is funding a coach from the Burnley area and missing his football team’s match against Manchester City to attend the march, said: “In just a couple of days, all of these people have signed up to fund the free coach travel scheme and we are confident that as more get to hear of it, more will want to offer their support in this way. Anyone who wants to sponsor a coach just needs to get in touch.

“In her conference speech Theresa May dismissed the People’s Vote as a campaign by politicians. Not for the first time, she is totally misreading the mood of the country. It is not a politicians’ campaign – if only! This is a movement of people of all backgrounds and all regions who see Brexit going wrong and want a say on the outcome of the negotiations, whether there is a deal or not. And the fact she felt the need to mention it at all shows how far we have come in so short a time.”

Ends /

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About People’s Vote: The People's Vote campaign is supported by nine campaign group seeking to ensure that the government's Brexit deal is put before the country in a public vote so that we can decide if a decision that will affect our lives for generations makes the country better or worse off. Good deal or bad deal, it's a big deal - and that's why it should be put to a People's Vote. https://www.peoples-vote.uk/

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